Soviet Ballistic Missile Defense and the Western Alliance (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 267 hegemonic ideology. In Schatzberg's opinion, Mobutu uses the imagery offamily and father as "symbols and metaphors of authority," which contribute to the understanding of the continuity of the Mobutiste state. Schatzberg's theory is well supported by plenty of examples. According to him, the success of such imagery is explained by both the precolonial and colonial past. In precolonial Zaire, "notions of lineage and family legitimized political rule. . .'explained' why some had more power. ... In almost all Zairian cultures, the role of father was certainly serious and important." The colonial state, its schools and missions (as well as the Catholic hierarchy), "also diffused a certain paternal imagery." Therefore, Mobutu's image appeals to the social psychology inherited from the colonial and precolonial era. Striking by its absence from the book is the single party, the Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR). This is evidence of the façade character of the party. Only present as a tool of repression is the JMPR, the youth section of the party. The JMPR is however not present in its capacity as a branch of the party, but as a security force, similar to the secret police and the Forces Armées Zaïroises, (FAZ), an instrument of oppression. But the party itself, as a political organization, does not have a significant impact on power maintenance. Finally, and somewhat surprisingly, Schatzberg pays little attention to external help, which allows, by its silence as much as by its presence, the state machine to oppress the citizenry. He barely mentions it in conclusion: "The support and nurture of the international system is certainly an important reason [why the Mobutiste state has survived]." Schatzberg's Dialectic of Oppression is coherent and offers the advantage of bringing diverse elements such as oppression, corruption, "give-and-takeaway " under the same explanatory pattern of insecurity and scarcity. Also it would probably be useful when applied out of the Zairian context to other African polities. Insecurity and scarcity are unfortunately not Zairian exclusivities, and there is a need to explain the repressive nature of most African states. Schatzberg 's weakness, however, is his failure to account for the international dimensions of oppression. It is apparent that external interventions nurture the oppressive Zairian system. The model would be improved if that aspect were incorporated. Soviet Ballistic Missile Defense and the Western Alliance. By David S. Yost. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988. $30.00/cloth. Reviewed by Linda Hor, SAIS, M.?., 1985; threat analyst, SRS Technologies, Arlington, Virginia. The latest grist for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) debate mill comes in the form of David S. Yost's book entitled Soviet Ballistic Missile Defense and the Western Alliance. With an impressive list of acknowledgments and an even more impressive series of footnotes, this book promises quite a bit and delivers almost all. As the introduction states, the issue of Soviet antiballistic missile 268 SAIS REVIEW (ABM) capabilities is often mistakenly linked to Soviet response options to SDI. The purpose of Yost's book is not only to point out the long-standing Soviet incentive for defensive deployments irrespective of SDI but also to explore the implications for Western security of a unilateral Soviet ABM breakout potential. Yost skillfully combines primary sources, secondary sources, and observed Soviet behavior patterns to provide solid evidence for his primary conclusion: the Soviets could have an antiballistic missile defense (albeit using only groundbased systems) in the near future. An equally important conclusion, particularly for U.S. decisionmakers, is that should the Soviets accept the notion of a mutual defensive deployment, they could field a fully operational nationwide system in a relatively short period of time. In contrast, a fully deployed SDI system could take decades to achieve—not the type of mutual defensive deployment envisioned by President Reagan. The crux of Yost's argument can be found in the final two chapters. The SDI program threatens to destabilize the currently deteriorating strategic balance . Although not opposed to the concept of strategic defense, Yost argues that the former president's vision of a population defense coupled with the elimination of ballistic missiles has gone a long way toward increasing tensions between the United States...